The fears of US recession and after-effects of sub prime crisis have caused a massive erosion of investor wealth in the stock markets. The rising oil prices has also dampened the investor sentiment. Indian government is expecting a GDP growth of 8-8.5 per cent compared to an earlier estimate of over 9%. Indian stock markets were near their lifetime high in the start of January 2008 and most of the stocks were trading at lifetime high. Many Indian stocks are available at attractive valuations after the recent stock market meltdown.

Samsung India has launched five new mobile phones in the Indian market. Samsung’s brand Ambassador Aamir Khan was also present at the launch event. The five models launched yesterday included SGH-i450, SGH-G800, i550, D880 and J210.

The new mobile phones from Samsung offer a rich multimedia experience along with the latest features and sleek design. Samsung SGH G800 offers high quality imaging with a 5 mega pixels camera offering up to 3x optical zoom. The model is priced at Rs 21,799.

The Budget 2008 has finally brought welcome relief to the auto sector, which was otherwise spinning under a slowdown caused by firm interest rates.

Mr. P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister on Friday, has announced a surprise cut in excise duty for small cars (4,000 mm in length and engines with 1.2 litres capacity, if petrol or 1.5 litres capacity, if diesel) from 16% to 12%.
With this move, small cars will cost Rs. 7000 to 16000 less. Maruti Suzuki, a major listed player in the passenger car market, will be the main beneficiary.

Software Giant Microsoft has announced takeover of Mobile Software maker Danger Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Palo Alto-based Danger has developed software for T-Mobile’s Sidekick web phone. Danger specializes in designing of software for mobile handsets. Andy Rubin started Danger. He also started another company, which was soon acquired by Google. Rubin has been engaged in development of Google’s open source platform Android.

Nokia has announced upgrade of its Navigation system for mobile handsets at Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona, Spain. Nokia claims that the new version of its navigation system combines the power of satellite images, city guides and a much improved user interface.

Panda Security has announced that their systems have detected two virus programs which are using Valentine’s Day email to propagate. Glendale based Pandalabs offers various programs to detect Malware and Trojans.

First virus Nuwar.OL is downloaded on user PC from a website. The email sent with a headline "I Love You Soo Much" or "Inside My Heart" offers a link to this website. The page will open a Valentine's eCard, but will also install the worm on user PC. The worm will send emails to contacts of the user and causes load on the network.

The first Trojan program has reached iPhone, the most popular and innovative gadget for year 2007 from Apple. According to the US Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), software called "iPhone firmware 1.1.3 prep" is available online for iPhone users. The software update is projecting itself as an important update before Apple's much awaited 1.1.3 update is officially released.

When the user downloads the software and installs it, the Trojan displays the word "shoes". If the user tries to uninstall the Trojan, a number of applications such as Doom, OpenSSH, Launcher and Erica's Utilities are removed, meaning that the user will have to reinstall those applications.

With the inauguration of HMCI’s Vintage and Classic Car Display by Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday, the Heritage Motoring Club of India (HMCI) kicked-off the expo fever in the capital.

Around 100 vintage cars and 50 vintage motorcycles and scooters were flagged-off from the residence of Manujendra Shah, former royal from the house of Tehri Garhwal, at Bhagwan Das road in central Delhi and were driven down to Pragati Maidan, the venue of the Auto Expo.

Due to space restriction, only 47 vintage cars and 36 vintage motorcycles and scooters will be displayed at the Auto Expo.

Bajaj Auto Limited has announced that the company may launch a small car in the next 3-4 years in India. The second largest two wheeler maker in India will enter the small car segment in partnership with French car giant Renault and Nissan. Managing Director, Mr. Rajiv Bajaj said that in case the talks with Renault and Nissan fail, Bajaj Auto may go ahead with the project alone.

Airtel has launched SMS 2.0 in India in partnership with Mobile media company Affle. Affle currently provides services in Singapore, UK and United States. The upgrade of current SMS service to SMS2.0 will offer lot of innovative features to 5.5 crore mobile subscribers in India.

SMS 2.0 will empower mobile users with many enhanced messaging technologies which include addition of various combinations of text, background and emotions in their messages.

Pentax has announced the launch of its 8 mega pixel digital camera Optio Z10 in India. Pentax will offer the model to Indian consumers in partnership with India Digital Life Style Distributors (IDLDPL).

The ninth Auto Expo, the biggest automotive trade show, is beginning on January 10, 2008, in New Delhi. The theme of the Auto expo is ‘Mobility for All’. The exhibition, ninth in the series, will be the longest-ever as compared to previous six-day event held in 2006.

The Auto Expo, which is a bi-annual event, has been the impressive showcase of the Indian automobile and auto-component industry for the last 18 years.

More than 2000 companies, 41 vehicle manufacturers, 1,900 auto components, auto accessories and other manufacturers are participating in this latest edition of the Auto Expo, spread over 1.20 lakh square meters.

World’s largest maker of plasma televisions, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Canon Inc. and Hitachi Ltd have agreed to team up to promote liquid crystal display (LCD) panel business. The three firms "reached a basic agreement on a comprehensive alliance” aimed at reinforcing and growing the liquid crystal display panel business and technologies. The details of the joint venture will be decided later as per the official statement.

New York – Bear Stearns Co Inc, the Wall Street brokerage, on Thursday posted its first quarterly loss in its history. The brokerage firm posted a much bigger-than-expected quarterly loss, slipping $854m (£429m) into the red after falling foul of America's sub-prime mortgage crisis.

After the first loss in the history of the company, it has been decided that top executives would not receive bonuses. According to the Bank of America analyst Michael Hecht, Bear's smaller bonus pool could lead to attrition and hinder a strong rebound.

Epson India has unveiled Epson Stylus CX8300 and CX7300 AIO (all-in-one) offering very high speed for printing, scanning and copying. The printer is aimed at home and office users and will offer good features at low price of just Rs 8299. CX8300 offers a high speed of 32 pages per minute and is based on Micro-Piezo technology from Epson. CX8300 is equally good for black and colored prints. The AIO also offers a good speed for copy and scan (at 1200 dots per inch) functions.

Taiwanese electronics giant ASUS unveiled two new PDA phones for Indian market at an event organized at Taj Palace in Mumbai. The company is offering Windows Mobile 6 based P526 and M530w for Indian customers for a price of Rs 20,990 and Rs 16,990 respectively.